Although Ms Hutchinson has told officers her daughter is alive the little girl has never been found.

Witness Mary Knight broke down as she told Glebe Coroners Court Kate Hutchinson was once her friend.

"No-one wants to believe where this is going," she told the court.

Ms Knight said when they first met in a Bi Lo supermarket, Kate Hutchinson told her Leonie was 'going away'.

On another occasion when she asked Kate Hutchinson where her daughter was Ms Hutchinson replied "she's staying with friends".

The counsel assisting, Warwick Hunt has previously told the inquest there has been a "new attitude of co-operation from people in the Scone and Muswellbrook area" and extra police resources have been put on the case.

The inquest has heard allegations Kate Hutchinson told another colleague she killed her daughter.

It has also heard the child's body may have been put down a nearby well.